Illuminated oven



1955 J. L. EVANS ET AL 2,758,197

ILLUMINATED OVEN Filed Aug. 26, 1953 INVENTORS Jesse L. Evans and 2Their A/famey United States Patent ILLUMINATED OVEN Jesse L. Evans, TippCity, and 'Cecil J. Prashaw, Dayton, Ohio, assignors to General hlotorsCorporation, Be troit, lVlich., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationAugust 26, 1953, Serial No. 376,609

2 Claims. (Cl. 240-) This invention relates to a domestic appliance andmore particularly to domestic ranges having an oven door provided with awindow and an interior light.

Ranges are normally provided with metal doors and an interior lightwhich is extinguished by the closing of the door and lighted by theopening of the door. Occasionally some customers desire an oven whichcan be looked into without opening the door.

It is an object of our invention to provide an oven door having a windowcapable of replacing a windowless door and to provide a simpleinexpensive arrangement whereby the interior light may be lighted whenthe door is closed whenever desired.

It is another object of our invention to provide in cooperation with adoor a simple arrangement whereby a lightcontrolling push member may bereleased whenever desired when the door is closed and also automaticallywhen the door is opened.

It is another object of our invention to provide a lighting control upona door which can be set and latched in the lighting position andreleased whenever desired.

These objects are attained in the form shown by providing a window typeoven door which is interchangeable with the customary all metal door.Adjacent the door handle is a push button which connects to a leverhaving a projection normally held by a spring against the push rod whichprotrudes from the door jamb. When the push rod is pushed in, theinterior light in the oven is extinguished but when it is releasedeither by opening the door or by pushing in the push button, the lightwill be lighted so that the interior of the oven is illuminated when itis desired to inspect the interior.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearlyshown.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a front view of a part of a domestic range illustrating anoven arrangement embodying one form of our invention;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view in elevation and partly in section ofthe range shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top sectional view of the oven door takensubstantially along the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 4-4 ofFigure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 5-S ofFigure 3;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 66 ofFigure 3;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line77 of Figure 5; and

Figure 8 is a sectional View similar to Figure 3 but showing the pushbutton pushed in and locked 1n the lighting position.

Referring now to the drawings and more partlcularly to Figure 1, thereis shown a domestic electric range provided with a range top 22 and anoven door 24 beneath Patented Aug. 7, 1956 ice the range top. The ovendoor 24 is provided with a window 26 for viewing the interior of theoven when the door 24 is closed. The interior of the oven is surroundedby a liner 28 provided with an electric light 30 for illumination. Thiselectric light may be located wherever it provides the most satisfactoryillumination.

The light 30 is connected to a supply conductor 32 and is also connectedby the conductor 34 to a switch 36 which may be moved to the closedposition by the spring 38. The switch 36 is connected to the secondsupply conductor 40. The switch 36 is provided with a push rod 42propelled by the spring 38 through an aperture in the door jamb 44 atthe side of the liner 28. This push rod 42 may be used with an ordinaryall metal door and our invention also makes it particularly usable withthe Window type door. When used with an ordinary all metal door, thedoor in the closed position pushes the push rod 42 toward the rear ofthe cabinet against the force of the spring 38 so that the switch 36 isheld open as shown in Figure 2. When the door is opened, the push rod 42is released and the switch 36 moves to the closed position, lighting thelight so that the interior of the oven is illuminated whenever the dooris opened.

According to our invention, we also provide means for lighting the light30 whenever desired even though the door 24 remains closed. For thepurpose we provide a push button 46 projecting from the outer face ofthe oven door 24 directly adjacent the ornamental handle 48 so that itmay be readily pushed in by the thumb or one of the fingers. This pushbutton 46 is connected to one end of a simple lever 50 preferably madeof an angle iron or a channel-shaped member. This lever 50 is pivoted toa pivot pin 52 mounted in a U-shaped bracket 54 and fastened to theouter wall of the door by the screw 56 which threads through the outerwall of the door 24 into the handle 48. The opposite end of the lever 50is provided with a stud 58 having a flange 60 normally resting againstthe inner wall of the door 24 as shown in Figure 6. The stud 58 is alsoprovided with a projection 62 which projects through an aperture in therear wall of the door 24 directly opposite the push rod 42 as shown inFigure 2.

The lever 50 is provided with a coil spring 64 which normally keeps theflange 60 in contact with the rear wall of the door 24 as shown inFigures 2, 3 and 6. The spring 64 is made stronger than the spring 38 sothat when the door 24 is closed, the projection 62 will push the pushrod 42 and the switch 36 rearwardly to open the switch 36 and extinguishthe light 30. However, when it is desired to light the light 30 when thedoor is closed, the push button 46 is manually pushed inwardly to pivotthe lever 55 in the clockwise direction about the pivot pin 52 toretract the projection 62 against the force of the spring 64 to allowthe push rod 42 and the switch 36 to move outwardly to closed positionunder the force of the spring 38 to light the light 30. The light 39will remain lighted as long as the push button 36 is depressed. Wheneverthe push button 46 is released, the light 30 will be extinguished.

The push button 46 is connected to the lever 50 by a bayonet slotarrangement. For this purpose, the lever 54 is provided with alongitudinal slot 74 The innermost part of the push button 46 isprovided with a pair of diametrically extending projections 72 justsmall enough to pass through the slot 70. The portion of the push buttonwhich is lodged in the slot 70 is cylindrical. This cylindrical portionis flanked by a shoulder 74. The projections 72 of the push button 46are passed through the slot 70 and the push button 46 turned when theshoulder 74 engages the lever 50 so that the projections 72 are held bythe lever as illustrated in Figures 5 and 7. This bayonet slotconnection allows a limited rocking of the push button 46 relative tothe lever 50. The push button 46 is provided with a latching shoulder76. The rocking connection makes it possible to push the push button 46in and move the shoulder 76 into latching position behind the frontpanel 78 of the door 24 as shown in Figure 8. This portion of the frontpanel 78 serves as a keeper to hold push button 4.6 in the lightingposition as long as desired. It may be unlatched merely by pushing thepush button 46 away from the shoulder 76 to release the shoulder 76 fromengagement with the front panel 78.

Through this arrangement anyone desiring a door with a window in it canreadily substitute sucha door without any additional change in therange. A simple provision is made for lighting the oven light wheneverdesired even though the door is closed. Also the light may be left on byhaving a notch in the push button 46 engage the side of the panelopening if desired.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed,constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted as may come within the scope of the claims whichfollow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. An oven including top, bottom, side and rear Walls enclosing an ovencompartment; a light supported by one of said walls arranged toilluminate said compartment, a light control means mounted upon one ofsaid, walls operatively connected to said light for controlling saidlight, a door for closing the front of said oven, said light controlmeans being provided with an, operating push projection at the front ofthe oven, said projection having a spring for propelling it into thepath of movement of the door, said door being provided with a manuallyoperable retracting means having a portion in alignment with said pushprojection located to depress said push projection when the door isclosed, said retracting means including a manually 4 operated handlelocated on the door for moving said aligning portion away from said pushprojection to release said push projection.

2. An oven including top, bottom, side and rear walls enclosing an ovencompartment; a light supported by one of said walls arranged toilluminate said compartment, a light control means mounted upon one ofsaid walls operatively connected tosaid light for controlling saidlight, a door for closing the front of said oven, said light control Cmeans being provided with an operating push projection at the front ofthe oven, said projection having a spring for propelling it into thepath of movement of the door, said door being provided with a manuallyoperable retracting means having a portion in alignment with said pushprojection located todepress said push projection when the door isclosed, said retracting means including a manually operated handlelocated on the door for moving said alignin-gportion away from. saidpush projection to release said push projection, said handle beingmounted for movement in. two directions and being provided with alatching shoulder, saiddoor being provided with a keeper cooperatingwith. said latching shoulder.

References. Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,919,024 Abbotts July 18, 1933 2,164,239 Grayson June 27, 19392,187,308. Fuss, n Jan. 16, 1940 2,327,200 Lotter Aug. 17, 19432,577,541 Resek et al Dec. 4, 1951

